Trip to the Big City

Well, the day after I posted my last entry, I took a trip with Rachael B. and the school cross-country team (boys only) to the city. We didn't actually go all the way to Seoul, but rather to a city in Gyeonggi Province (Korean: 경기도), which is a mostly urban, crescent-shaped province surrounding the metropolitan city of Seoul. (Kind of like the relationship of New Jersey to New York City; only Seoul is on the same level as a province.) As mentioned previously, I got to do this because I was basically the only person available who is able to drive the van that they had to use. Since she asked, I said that I would. Otherwise they would have had to take public transportation, which they have done before, but kind of got lost in the process.

Well it turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Actually, we kind of got lost, too. No one knew where we were going, really, but we had one of the runners (the best one, actually) plug in the address into the GPS (which was a Korean-language GPS). I had Rachael watch the GPS and call out the turns to me. Well, it only gave notice of one turn at a time, and then took a little while to display the next one. If the exit you take has a choice right away between one direction and the other on the expressway, that doesn't work unless you're watching the picture of the roadway as well as the direction arrows.

The other thing that caused problems was the fact that the guys didn't trust the GPS, and started to second-guess it. Rachael got distracted by them, and failed to give me adequate notice for a turn I needed to make. On the Korean expressway system, the exits are few and far between. Basically, if you get on an expressway, it means you're going some distance, whether you want to or not. There are toll plazas at the interchanges between expressways and surface streets/regional highways. That cost us some time, and a few thousand won in unnecessary tolls.

However, we still got there within the time parameters that Rachael thought would be OK. Then we found out that her assumptions had been incorrect, and the race the guys were supposed to run in had already started. We decided to run the course and time the guys on our own. Uriel, the star runner, was pretty frustrated, because this wasn't the first time he had missed a race like that. It looks like maybe Rachael needs to allow more time for getting lost and recovering, and for other unexpected events, than she has been allowing.

At any rate, we ran the race. I actually chased the slowest runners all the way around the course, which was a hilly 5K race. (I was wearing blue jeans and hiking boots.) In fact, I sometimes had to yell at them not to walk, but to keep running, and rest later. I think I would have liked to be working with Rachael in coaching the team, but I haven't had much time for that, and anyway, the season is pretty much over for now. Too bad they didn't get more races. Some of these guys need to learn the way of the warrior. Tae Kwon Do doesn't appear to be teaching them enough of that.

After the race, we went out for dinner, paid for by the athletic budget, of course. That was another challenge, trying to find a place for dinner in a city we didn't know. However, we eventually found a Kim's Club, which turned out to be a grocery store that has a food court attached. Next challenge: find a parking space! The first four levels down were full, but the attendant on the fifth floor waved us on. The lot was really tight, as they all are in Korea, and the spaces were all squared, no angled spots. (Angled spaces take more space, something that's at a premium everywhere in Korea.) I tried for a couple of spaces, but there wasn't really enough maneuvering room to get the van into them safely. Then I saw a corner space open up, and I went for it.

Another driver, a woman, also wanted the same space, and came at it from the opposite direction. (Note: I'm not sexist. Women drive differently in Korea, as discussed in a previous post.) I got halfway into the space, and then I just sat and waited for her to move out of my way. I figured my car was bigger than hers, and more beat up, so she wouldn't be too aggressive. Also, I figured she was in more of a hurry than I was, and would quickly tire of waiting for me to to move, and go find another space. She honked at me, and I honked back and motioned for her to move on. Soon, a parking attendant came over (there were a few on that level), and spoke to her in Korean. Evidently the attendant sided with me, and helped the woman find another parking space.

In Kim's Club (which had plenty of signs in English, surprisingly enough), I learned how to order food at a Korean food court. There was a display of fake food, which represented the dishes available for order. Beneath each dish of plastic food, was a tag showing the name (in Korean) and price of the real food item. The idea was to choose the item you wanted, and go to the cashier and tell her, and pay for it, of course. This was another challenge in reading Hangul. Fortunately, Rachael knew some of the names, and once she said it, I was able to read it better. I chose a hot variant of bibenbap, which is a rice bowl with veggies and other things. (The word "pap" or "bap", spelled 밥 in Korean, means "cooked rice".)

After I paid for it, she gave me two receipts, one with the price to give to Rachael for reimbursement, and the other with an order number, which she helpfully pointed out. I was directed to look at a board with several rows of numbers. Apparently, each row represented one counter in the food court. Every time an order was ready at a counter, that order number would flash on the board, and an electronic bell would chime. The number would also flash on a smaller board at the individual counter. Different types of food were prepared at different counters, of course.

Eventually, my number flashed, and I went to pick up my order. It was served in a cast-iron bowl, so hot the rice on the bottom was sizzling. It cost 4,900 won, and was very good. I've never had such a good meal for less than 5 bucks before. I honestly enjoyed it more than some meals that were twice the price.

After dinner, we did some shopping, with an agreement to meet back there at a certain time. (I actually told them an hour later than I intended to, so we had some time to kill, but that's the way it went.) I took one of the boys who is bilingual, and I tried to get a prepaid cell phone, which is apparently the only kind I can get as long as I don't have a foreigner ID card. No dice. Apparently prepaid cell phones are only sold where many foreigners can be found, in places like airports, and near Osan AFB, and in Itaewon-dong, the international district of Seoul. So, that was frustrating. However, I also looked for a few things for the kitchen, and bought a decent cutting board that I can wash and sanitize properly.

On the way home, we didn't make a single wrong move. (We did have some people honk at us, but I kind of expect that in Korea.) We had learned how to use the GPS successfully. I also positioned it so I could see it as well as Rachael. I did succeed in getting the guys back before 11:00, which was my goal, so they could get a decent amount of sleep before having to get up for church. Then, of course, I took Rachael back to the apartments. Not the date I would have chosen to take her on, but a fun experience none the less, and also valuable for getting a little bit better acquainted.

The next day, I got a request from some of you, via my mother, for ideas for care packages. So, I'll post the list here for those who are interested. (Note: Sending packages to Korea is expensive, and I understand this. So, I don't expect a lot. Please don't feel obligated in any way.)

Care Package Ideas

When people think of care packages, they usually think of food. Now, I can buy food here, but there are certain things that I have trouble finding. Instant oatmeal is very good, and I haven't seen it even in the black market. Instant cocoa packets are also good. I've seen chocolate powder in places, but I'm not good a mixing hot chocolate from that, so hot chocolate packets would be nice.

I don't need candy, but some filling snacks would be really nice. I've only seen Snickers in the black market, and I haven't seen Balance Bars anywhere, so those would be good, as would Power Bars. Some unsalted trail mix (without walnuts) would also be good, as I haven't seen that anywhere.

I really want to bake a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and baking things are hard to find here. I can get fresh pumpkin, and I'm pretty sure I can prepare it for baking. I also think I can get evaporated milk, although that will be harder. I have some cinnamon, and I know where to find more. I've also seen ground cloves somewhere, maybe the black market, so I think I can find those. I haven't seen any ground ginger, so I'd love to get a small amount of that for baking. I'll have to make a piecrust from scratch, so if anyone has a recipe for piecrust that a pioneer (think Little House on the Prairie) could follow, I'd appreciate it. On that subject, I haven't seen a proper-shaped piepan anywhere, not even at the cookware store in Pyeongtaek near Osan AFB, so if someone is willing to send one or two deep-dish piepans, I will be forever in your debt. Other baking items like baking soda and vanilla extract would be good too. I was able to get some stuff that claims to be baking soda, but the way it's labeled makes me wonder if it's the same stuff I'm used to. Same with the vanilla. I also need some measuring cups for dry ingredients, and measuring spoons for teaspoon and tablespoon measurements. Again, I couldn't find them, even in the cooking store in Pyeongtaek.

That's about it for food. As for other things, it is starting to get colder here. In fact, I understand the old name for this area meant "cold snowy valley". (I have already ordered a long cashmere coat from a good tailor in Pyeongtaek.) So, all you knitters out there in my fan club, I would really love some hand-knitted wool socks and a scarf or two. (You can get my sock measurements from my mom.) If anyone is more ambitious, a knitted wool vest in a versatile color like black or grey, that can be worn with a shirt and tie, would be very nice. Keep in mind that my job requires me to look like a professional, not a ski bum.

If you've read the above post, you're probably wondering why I don't get some paper maps. Apparently, Koreans rely on GPS devices despite their shortcomings, and don't really use paper maps, so no one knows where to find them without ordering some kind of atlas. So, some paper road maps would be really nice, even if they're labeled in Korean. Some of the expressway system in Chungcheongbuk Province (Chungcheongbuk-do, Korean 충청북도) and southern Gyeonggi Province (Gyeonggi-do, Korean 경기도) would be really nice. Also, of the area around Osan AFB. If AAA can provide a road map of Eumseong County (Eumseong-gun, Korean 음성군) in Chungcheongbuk Province, that would be very nice to receive as well.

Thanks to everyone who was asking about this. I do love receiving packages. However, your prayers are even more valuable, so I'll move on to the next section.

Prayer Requests

First, praise God for my continued good health, and the continued growth of relationships with my colleagues and students. On the whole, I've really enjoyed my time in Korea to date.

Also, praise God for allowing me to develop a taste for Korean food. I'm really starting to like kimchi, and cucumber soup, and even edible seaweed. That definitely makes it easier to live here.

As for requests and petitions, please pray for the health of the students and staff. On Monday (the 12th of October), we started seeing an unusual number of kids running fevers. Many were sent to the nurse's office, and several went back after school to be taken to the hospital to check for H1N1 virus. That apparently resulted in a visit from local representatives of the Ministry of Health, who administered temperature checks to all students, faculty and staff on Wednesday night. Fully one-third of the students were found to have an elevated temperature, and as a result, the school decided to have an immediate, week-long fall vacation. Students were sent home on chartered buses on Thursday, and their parents were called to pick them up at the stations. Please pray that everyone made it home safely.

Please pray that this will allow the sick students to get better, and keep them from infecting everyone. (This also gives the custodial staff a chance to sanitize the dormitories.) Some of the teachers were showing symptoms as well, and one tested positive (assumed) for H1N1 at the hospital, so those people stayed home from the teacher in-service/fellowship day that was held on Friday. Please pray that everyone would return to school healthy next Monday, and that there will not be any more outbreaks.

Since the Fall Festival was canceled as part of this vacation, we only lost four days of instruction time instead of seven. Praise God for helping me replan my lessons for the rest of the semester, to make up for the lost days. I have tried not to overburden the students with too much work. Please pray that this revised plan would work, and allow the students to keep up with the pace. Also, praise God for helping me finish grading all the chapter tests before I left for my vacation, and please pray that I would be able to finish all the homework grading and lesson planning I have to do this week.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, thanks to those of you who are sending care packages, and thanks most of all for praying for my colleagues and I. May the blessings of God be with you all.

Driving in Korea

Well, now I can say that I've driven a car (a van, actually) in a foreign country, and lived to write about it. I would also like to add, as an aside, that an International Driver's Permit (IDP) is a wonderful thing. With an IDP and my CA driver's license, I can legally drive a vehicle in Korea with no additional paperwork.

How did I get a vehicle? Well, here's the deal. The school provides housing for the teachers and staff (and their immediate families) in the nearest apartment complex, which is about 15 minutes' drive from the school. The school also provides a shuttle, essentially an old van with a 5-speed transmission and hardly any seatbelts, for teachers to ride to school. (Many teachers do have their own cars, or ride with roommates, so one van is enough for the others.) Josh C, who teaches Bible and Social Studies (and coaches volleyball), normally drives this van, which seats up to 11 passengers if they get very cozy, and can hold more if they sit on each others' laps.

The students just had a 5.5 day weekend for their Chuseok holiday (think early Thanksgiving). Originally, the next weekend was scheduled to be a Fall Festival by the school, with only one and a half full days between them. Josh was asked to officiate at a friend's wedding in the U.S., which coincided with this time. So, he and his wife decided to take a vacation spanning Chuseok and Fall Festival, so they would only miss one and a half days of school. After they booked their flights, the school changed the timing of Fall Festival, pushing it back two weeks. That meant that Josh & Meagan would be gone for at least four full school days. Sherry is responsible for finding subs for them from teachers who have a free period (I'm one sometimes), but Josh had to find a substitute van driver. He asked me, because I have an IDP, I know how to drive a manual transmission, and he trusted me to be responsible and prompt.

So, I have the use of the van, and the school pays for the diesel fuel. Most of my driving has been between the apartments and the school, but I've driven in downtown Eumseong as well. Tomorrow I will be driving the cross-country team to Seoul with Rachael B (one of the twins). She had asked another driver, my new Korean roommate, but he is taking his junior brother to Daejun this weekend, to visit their parents. So, she asked me. It sounded like fun, and I said so, which she correctly took to be an affirmative.

So, what's it like, driving in Korea? After I get back from Seoul, I may have a different impression; however, I'm pleased to report that, as far as I can tell, Korean drivers are not crazy. They do, however, drive differently than most American drivers. They drive faster, unless there's a speed camera. (These have yellow signs warning drivers to slow down.) They leave less space between cars, and they have no hesitation about parking illegally. They often run red lights, and, if you're in front of them at a light which is red for no good reason (i.e., no cross traffic), they may honk at you to run the red light so they can, too. (I may speed, but I won't go that far.) They park more closely together (the parking spaces are also smaller), and they often park illegally, partially blocking a lane of traffic. (I've seen whole blocks with cars parked like that. Apparently, there isn't anyone giving parking tickets.) They may even block a full lane by parking at a slant, or double-park if it's crowded.

These differences may be due in part to a national tendency to hurry, expressed in the common phrase, "Bali-Bali" (발리 발리), "Hurry, Hurry". It may also be because enforcement of traffic laws basically consists of well-marked cameras to catch speeders and signal flaunters. (If you see a warning sign, slow down for the camera, and then speed up again.) Anywhere there's not a camera, drivers do what they please and fear no consequences. They do, however, pay a human price.

I asked one of the Korean teachers, and he said that the collision rate in Korea is rather high, as is the fatality rate for collisions. Yet, no one seems to be worried about this. I will, as he advised, be extra careful on my trip to Seoul tomorrow. Good thing God is watching over me.

There's another interesting thing about Korea; apparently, far fewer women drive here than in the U.S. I guess fewer women work outside the home, which I think is a good tradition to keep, generally speaking. The public transportation system is quite good, so one can get along pretty well without driving here, if you don't have to go out to the bak-wonga like I do every day. However, that means that a Korean woman is less likely to have a drivers' license, and a female Korean driver is more likely to be inexperienced. This, combined with the hazards of Korean drivers and women's natural protective instinct, tends to make them more ginger, reluctant drivers.

Also, of course, the streetscape is different than in the U.S. Here in Korea, only the expressways have a speed limit higher than 80 km/h (50 mph). Expressways are toll roads, and their onramps and offramps are much fewer and farther between than those of U.S. freeways. As for surface streets, the lanes are narrower, but well-marked (as far as I've seen). Traffic lights, however, don't appear to be equipped with buried sensors, which is surprising in a country that generally seems to be pretty technologically integrated. (For example, my bedroom light switch has an alarm clock built into it.) I haven't seen a stop sign between the apartments and the school.

However, I can adapt to these differences. They do drive on the right side of the road, the signs I need to find directions are marked in English as well as Korean, and Koreans are generally pretty honest, law-abiding folk, and very helpful. Seriously, if you're a foreigner in Korea, and you need help, they'll bend over backwards to help you, if they can. (The biggest problem may be communicating your need, as few people speak much English outside of Seoul.)

Prayer Requests

First, praise God for providing a vehicle for me to drive this week! This has allowed me to go grocery shopping, exchange traveler's checks at a bank, and buy medicine at a pharmacy. Hopefully, my role as a driver tomorrow will enable me to buy a prepaid cellphone, as well as see a little bit of Seoul.

Also, praise God for an improved relationship with my fellow teachers, especially my roommate Justin (teaches Social Studies), the Russian teacher Almagul, and the twins Sarah and Rachael B. The relationships started off well, and now I'm getting to know them better, and vice versa. Scoring volleyball with Sarah, tutoring Almagul's daughters, and now driving with Rachael, are great opportunities to strengthen these friendships.

For our trip to Seoul, please pray for a safe trip for everyone. Driving in Korea has different hazards, as I've mentioned before. I will be very careful, but I cannot control the actions of other drivers.

For Almagul's daughters, please pray that they would overcome their language difficulties and succeed in their respective math classes. "Sarah", the elder, is fluent in Kazakh, Russian and English, but her Algebra 2 class is taught in Korean (although the book is in English). "Esther", the younger, is fluent in Kazakh and Russian, with limited English skills and imperfect eyesight, and she's in my Algebra 1 class. (I will require her to sit in the front row until her mother gets her some glasses.)

For all my students, please pray that I would develop a better relationship with them. Pray that I would remember to relate to them from my heart instead of my head, even as we are in an intellectual, head-focused environment, studying algebra, an extremely left-brained subject. I especially need prayer for the best way to address the problems that Korean girls have in developing a healthy body image. (For my feelings on that, read my previous post, "Chuseok", especially the part about Sunday morning, and the second prayer request.) Also, I need to earn respect from the boys, so they will stay quiet when I need them to.

Finally, please pray that I would be able to do my work well, and grade the homework in a timely manner, which has been a big challenge to date. Pray also that I have the wisdom to avoid making more commitments than I can keep.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for praying.

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind always be at your back,

And until we meet again,

May the Lord keep you in the palm of His hand.

Chuseok

I've been really busy, but I figure it's time to update this, as there has been a lot going on in the past few weeks.

This last weekend, on October 3rd, Koreans celebrated one of their biggest national holidays, called Chuseok (pronounced Choo-sock. In Korean, it's spelled 추석.) It's a major harvest festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, at approximately the first full moon of Autumn. It's basically their equivalent of Thanksgiving, a time for gathering with family (including attending to the family graves), feasting, and giving gifts. Our students had a five-and-a-half-day weekend. The teachers had a four-day weekend.

My first, intellectual reaction was, "It's their holiday, not mine. Chuseok means nothing to me. I'll just use it to catch up on my work." That was what my head said, the "ego", or conscious mind. Then, my heart spoke up. (I've been learning to listen to my heart. It's usually wiser.)

My heart said, "This will be like Thanksgiving. The exact date isn't important. Everyone in Korea is gathering with family, feasting, and giving thanks for the harvest. You could feel very lonely." Fortunately, that didn't happen. Some of the staff at my school, who live in the same apartment complex and weren't travelling, hosted a Chuseok feast in their apartment. It was all Korean food, which I'm really starting to enjoy, and very good.

Otherwise, I spent some time exploring. I had the use of a van, because I'm the substitute van driver while Josh & Meagan C. are in the U.S. for a friend's wedding. On Friday, I drove them to the bus station, and then drove around for a while trying to find my way back to the apartment. Finally, I had the presence of mind to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. The station attendant spoke enough English to help me out.

Once I'd figured out how to keep my sense of direction, I ventured out later that day to do some shopping. After parking the van (illegally, like everyone else) and wandering around for a while, I finally found a grocery store! I got barley, eggs, broccoli, bananas, and tomatoes. I'm set for a while now.

On Saturday, I figured everything would be closed for the holiday, so I graded homework until it was time for the Chuseok feast. That was excellent, as I mentioned above.

Sunday I went to Osan for church with my roommate, Dick the Bible teacher, his wife Sherry the Admin Support specialist, and her mother. They go to a Baptist church near the Air Force base in Osan. It was the first time I'd seen Americans in the majority of any gathering. The preacher looked and sounded like a southern good ol' boy, but the message was real. He talked about the importance of prayer, how prayer was the only thing that would be effective to combat the evil around them.

Even on Sunday morning, the hedonist pleasures of that neighborhood were clearly visible. Right outside the church, there was a sign with a drawing of Betty Boop, advertising the "Pink Lady" on the second floor of a neighboring building. Of course it's a strip club, but what got me was the exaggerated features that Miss Boop is known for. Big, round eyes. No wonder Korean women and girls think their eyes are ugly, if that's the kind of image they're bombarded with! It made me very angry. I'm sure some of my students have problems with their body image, and that sort of thing is definitely a contributing factor.

I tried to buy a cell phone from the place where my roommate got his, but I didn't have enough cash. That place near the base takes dollars, but not traveler's checks, and that's all I had. (Note to others: Traveler's checks are not easy to change in Korea if you're a teacher. You're usually working when the banks are open, and banks are where you will get the best rate. Where you live, the businesses will probably not take traveler's checks. Also, property crime in Korea is almost zero, so there's no need to worry about carrying cash.)

On Monday, which was still a holiday, I managed to find the bank that Sherry had pointed out as we swung through town on our way back from church. I changed $200 in traveler's checks into won. Then I went to the pharmacy and got a month's supply of a PPI to replace the famotidine that I had run out of. (Of course, the explanations were involved, since the pharmacist's English skills were limited. However, I didn't need a prescription.)

After the pharmacy, I tried to buy a cell phone. I went into 5 or 6 different places, all nearby, and tried to explain what I wanted. (Everything took longer, accompanied by hand signals and pantomime.) They all wanted me to have a foreigner I.D. card, which I don't have because of my visa status. None of them would sell me a phone without this I.D. After talking with my roommate, it seems I have to purchase a prepaid card. After talking with Do Young, a Korean art teacher, it seems that such phones are available anywhere in Eumseong, if you know how to ask in Korean. He volunteered to go with me to buy one. I think I'll take him up on that today.

My third roommate moved in today. He's a Tae Kwon Do instructor, one of the younger ones, but pretty good. His schedule will be later than ours.

Well, it's almost time for me to get dressed and fix my breakfast, but first I need to share some prayer requests.

Prayer Requests

First, praise God for a good Chuseok holdiday! I had a good time, a good feast, I got lots of grading done, and I got some important errands done.

Second, please pray for my students. The girls need to know that they are beautiful just the way God made them, slanted eyes and all. The boys need to learn how to respect me and pay attention in the classroom. All of them need to be able to understand me better, and learn how to do homework properly.

Finaly, please pray for me that I would be able to get all my work done in a timely manner. I need to get caught up on grading, and I need to submit a syllabus.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for praying for me. I hope to write again soon.

On Being a Teacher in Korea

Something cool just happened to me that I just have to relate. To begin with, I'd like to state for the record that I think Korea (specifically, the Republic of Korea, a.k.a. South Korea) is a great place to be a teacher. Now, is it a great place to teach? I would agree that it is, but I want to differentiate the two. Teaching involves working for a school, making lesson plans, giving students lectures and exams, correcting homework, and everything else that teachers normally do. Being in Korea doesn't really change the work of teaching all that much, because their educational model was adapted from the U.S. (I do believe that the discipline is easier here.) However, the social status of teachers in Korea is quite enviable.

Despite the fact that few Koreans explicitly practice Confucianism as a way of life, Confucian thought still strongly influences their society, even Christians. One of the teachings of Confucianism is reverence for teachers. In fact, a good teacher is at the top of the Confucian hierarchy. That means that, if I meet a doctor, a nurse, an airline pilot, an engineer, a lawyer, or a politician, and I'm not significantly younger than the other, when I bow in greeting, there's a good chance the other person will bow lower as a sign of respect. Here, the school nurse is old enough to be my mother, and she bows quite low when we meet. Those I've never met before, when I bow slightly in greeting, will sometimes bow lower, indicating deference.

This keeps showing up in great ways. Today, I had at least three students seek me out to talk to me outside the classroom. One was in the teacher's workroom doing something for another teacher, and he came over to speak with me. Then, at dinner, I was eating outside, rather than in the teacher's area, and two of my girls came over to talk to me. They complimented my appearance, and my use of chopsticks, and only talked about math when I brought it up. (One or both might have a crush on me, but that's a different story.) But the most impressive example came after I'd finished dinner, and occurred because of a hitch in transportation.

The school provides a somewhat beat-up van to transport the teachers between our apartment complex and the school. One teacher, Josh C, has the responsibility of being the shuttle driver. His wife, Meagan C, is learning as well. (The clutch/transmission on that van seems to be pretty tricky.) Josh and Meagan both coach volleyball as well, boys and girls teams, respectively. This weekend, both teams have an away game. (In fact, I substituted for Josh in one of his 11th grade Bible classes, supervising a writing assignment.) This meant that Josh and Meagan were not available to drive the shuttle; in fact, they may have taken the van with them, to help transport the players. (Also, they don't have a car of their own; that van is their usual vehicle.) So, we had to find rides to and from school on our own.

Finding a ride to school was easy. Many teachers and staff at the school, both Koreans and foreigners, live in the same apartment complex. I just stood by the way out of the parking lot, and when one of the drivers recognized me and stopped, I asked if they had room. (Their daughter moved to the backseat to make way for me, I entered, and off we went.) They were quite respectful, of course. They asked where I was from, what I taught, and were very polite. The really impressive thing, however, happened on the way home.

After dinner, which I finished at about 6:30, I started walking the school grounds parking areas, looking for people who were getting into vehicles, and asking where they were going. The first van was simply taking seniors to the farthest dormitories, a bit up the hill. The next person I asked, a woman wearing a tinted visor, didn't speak much English. But her son did, and her son's friend, and they were all extremely helpful.

I asked if they were going to my apartment complex (I can pronounce the name pretty well), and they were not, but they offered to give me a ride there anyway. They asked where it was, and I named the town, which was not on their way, but they offered to take me there anyway. I was not in a position to pass up such an offer, so I accepted. They asked for the exact address, and I didn't know it (I haven't looked at the street sign that closely), but they said they had a GPS, as many here do. They plugged in the name (in Korean hangul), and my apartment and building number (part of the address), and found the complex.

When I got in the car, the son offered me a mini-donut from what looked like a Dunkin' Donuts bag. I said I would have one, only if they had extra, because I'd just had a good dinner. He said something I didn't quite catch, something about "for a teacher", or something. (Clearly, in his view, teachers merit extra generosity.) In this country, it's not polite to decline a gift, so I accepted. They also offered me a half-liter bottle of Evian. I had four liters of filtered water in my bag, as well as a cup, but I accepted the water out of courtesy. (I did decline a second donut, saying I had a big dinner.)

The ride home was quite pleasant, and very smooth. I asked the son about the statuaries that I saw, which I had been wondering about, and he agreed that they seemed to be selling grave markers. (Here, the grave markers can be very large and ornate, and many can be seen by the side of the road, where people were buried on their own land. They look more Buddhist or Shamanist than Christian, and the burial traditions seem to be strongly influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism.)

I can't see this happening anywhere else, where people I just met would go out of their way to do me a favor, and not grudgingly, but cheerfully, with generosity and deference. From what I've heard, this is typical, and not just for teachers, either. Foreigners in general, at least westerners, are often treated with great kindness and deference. I'm sure there's some explanation that has to do with Korean culture. But really, why try to explain it? It's great! Just receive it gratefully (thank you is "gomap-seumnida"), and enjoy it!

For those of you waiting for pictures, I apologize. My camera is still at school; it would not easily fit in my bags with all I had to bring home. Now, for the most important part of my entry.

Prayer Requests

First, thanksgiving and praise! Praise God and thank Him for consistently providing for all my needs, including transportation (as mentioned above), food, filtered water (from the school filters), and everything else I need. Praise God for helping me adjust to the unique challenge of living in Korea, which is probably easier than it would be if I was teaching at another school. Praise God for the chance to worship Him in fellowship with my Korean brothers and sisters, not once, but multiple times per week. Praise God for the chance to study Tae Kwon Do on campus with other staff members. Also, Praise God that I was able to develop a lesson plan overview for the entire year, that covers everything I need to cover, mapped down to the day.

I've been having more students asking about their grades. In truth, I'm quite behind in grading. I've finally figured out how I'm going to grade homework, so that should go more quickly. Please pray that I get all my grading done this weekend, and that I'm able to stay caught up.

I'm still having to enforce more discipline than I like to. Now, as junior high kids go, this is probably pretty tame. I've confiscated two electronic dictionaries, which are forbidden at school. I've sprayed a few kids with water for nodding off in class. I've referred a few kids to detention, mostly for doing things other than listen and take notes while I'm speaking, not just a little, but consistently. (Examples: exchanging mild blows, and playing ro-sham-bo.) One I referred for giving the digitus impudicus (a.k.a. middle finger) to a friend in the lunch line, and lying/evading when questioned about it. Two students also failed to show up to take a make-up test, though I did place a sign at the classroom, directing them to my office. I will have to give them both a 0 on that test, unless they show me a good excused absence note. Please pray that I would earn the kids' respect by teaching well, and that they would all understand that I love them, even when I want to smack them for not paying attention.

I've been getting to know my colleagues a little better. I learned that the twins, Sarah and Rachael, were born in Korea and adopted by American parents at about 18 months. Sarah's desk is right behind me, and Rachael's is on the other side of her. I'd like to get to know them better, and my other colleagues as well. Please pray that God would show me His will in this matter, and that I would use the time well while I'm waiting on Him.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for praying. Now, as the Koreans, say, annyeong-hi gyeseyo, "remain in peace".

So, What's it Like in Korea?

Well, today I inadvertently left most of my things at my desk in the teacher workroom, as I rushed to get to the school-apartment shuttle after Tae Kwon Do. (The school TKD instructors offer an evening class for staff. It's great, and many staff, including some of those I report to, attend.) Having left my school computer, my books, folders, and all writing implements at school, there's not much work I am able to do this evening, except update my blog. So, here I am. My goal is to give you some of my impressions of Korea. (Unfortunately, my camera is one of the things I left, so pictures will have to wait.)

So, what's it like in Korea? Well, it's different, that's for sure. Besides the language, the people, and the food, there are a lot of little things that are different: the plugs (of course), the light switches, the road markings and street signs (not just the language they're written in), and lots of other things. Most apartments don't have ovens. (Baking is apparently not a traditional Korean cooking method.) The cars are smaller, the vans are more crowded inside when full, and they drive and park closer together. (Many cars have special mirrors focused on the bumpers, to aid in parallel parking. Some also have pads on the doors so they don't bang the car next to them when they open.) However, there seems to me to be a theme to many of the differences; an underlying difference between Koreans and westerners that is reflected in the many differences that I have learned about. Two related words keep coming back: closeness and connection.

Koreans seem to be more closely connected, more tightly knit to each other, than westerners, particularly Americans. You can see it in the immigration laws. No foreigner can receive a permanent resident visa, or become a citizen, unless he or she is related to a Korean by blood or marriage. So, the Korean-American teachers at the school can get F-class (family) visas, as long as they can trace their ancestry to Korean nationals, no matter how far back. I, however, would have to marry a Korean or Korean-American woman to establish permanent residency here.

Another thing that gave me this idea of connection is the way they support young trees. In America, we usually drive one or two stakes deep into the ground, and use ties to support them. Here, I saw a grove of ornamental trees, and they were connected by staves lashed to the tree-trunks, each supporting the others in mutual interdependence. A solitary tree was supported by three staves lashed in a tripod arrangement to the tree trunk. Again, connected.

Similarly, they require less personal space, and less privacy; in other words, they're closer to each other. When they line up for anything, they stand closer together than Americans would. In the teacher's workroom, students will wander in just to say hi, or use it as a passageway to the gym. (I never even saw the teachers' workroom at my high school.) The students' desks seem to be closer together. They will share cups at the water fountain, even though they make sure to only drink from the filtered water.

Yesterday I gave one student detention for tripping another student on the way back to his seat. First offense, no warning, straight to detention, do not pas Go, do not collect 200,000 won. He said it was just a joke, and even the injured student said it wasn't a big deal. Solidarity, again. I made a point that to do that in my classroom, is an offense against me. Just like stealing is an offense against God as well as the party who was robbed. Don't know how much of that got through, but the student got a yellow slip all the same.

There are many other things I see, some I can't even describe. I have over 100 students, mostly 7th & 8th graders with a few 9th, among five classes, and I'm sure at least a few of my female students have crushes on me. Some will come up and quiz me to see if I remember their names. One girl, doing this, put her hand on my arm. Another came up to me, told me about another girl, saying, "She loves you." I'm sure there are some others I haven't noticed yet.

I'm not really surprised that some of my girls have developed crushes on me. Considering my age, position, and appearance, the care I have for my students, and the high respect most Koreans have for teachers, it's only natural.

Personally, I feel that it's best if I consider all the students like my own children, or at least my nieces & nephews. I feel I can love them better if I take that attitude. Then, right actions will naturally flow. I thought of that when I walked two girls home from dinner last night. They are the teenage daughters of a colleague, and though the walk wasn't far, I wouldn't want my own daughters walking home at night unaccompanied, so I went with them. I just said it was for safety. They seemed to accept that.

Socially, Korea is a great place to be a teacher. Korea is still strongly influenced by Confucian thought, and a good teacher is higher than any other profession in the Confucian hierarchy. (I don't know how well that is reflected in the salaries.) One of the ways people show respect here is bowing, and the lower person should bow more deeply. I had occasion to interact with the school nurse, being treated for a pre-Korea skin injury. She spoke very little English, but such was sufficient to treat the injury, which she did with motherly care. While I was there, I helped her fix the electronic thermometers that they use to make sure the teachers aren't developing a fever.

Apparently, the school nurse is now a founding member of the Korean chapter of my fan club, because she told all her friends about me (I could see that, even if I didn't understand the words), and she bows quite deeply when she meets me, as a token of deep respect. She's probably the equivalent of a nurse practitioner, and to see that she holds me in higher esteem than herself, is quite a welcome change from the U.S.

As far as the physical appearance, the school sits in the middle of farmland, with mountains in the distance. So does the apartment complex. (I would have a better view of them if I wasn't on the first floor.) I do see plenty of farms on my commute to and from school. Here's my impressions of Korean agriculture:

They seem to use as much of the farmland for farming, as possible. For instance, I see rice paddies (first time I've seen rice paddies in August/September, and with no mosquitoes), and on the edges of them, I see other things growing. Like temporary greenhouses for watermelon. Or as much corn as they can fit into the edges. Or other crops I've never seen before. There are plants under rows of black, slanted shelters. I'm told they are ginseng plants, which is a root crop, and must grow for seven years before it should be harvested. I've never seen plant shelters in that configuration before, but then, I've never heard of ginseng farmers, so there you go.

None of the farms seem to be divided into rectangular sections. They're all following more natural contours. I'm told that this is family land, and they will only sell the land at great price because of that, and because that's where their ancestors are buried. (You can see stone monuments everywhere, which I'm told are all grave markers.) It doesn't look wrong, just different.

I'm told that, despite being very efficient with their farming practices, Korea does not grow enough food to feed its entire population, and must import a lot of rice from the U.S. Since the government uses a comprehensive system of tariffs to maintain a positive trade balance (they export plenty of manufactured goods, like electronics and cars), anything imported is expensive. That is borne out by the price I paid for brown rice, which was enough to dissuade me from buying that kind again. And I thought rice would be cheap in Korea! (I did find something, apparently a white rice & barley mix, that is inexpensive, cooks in 15 minutes, and makes a good breakfast porridge with milk & sugar.) I've yet to find a good, inexpensive source of whole grains.

There are, however, plenty of red-pepper plants. This region is apparently known as the red pepper capital of Korea, and it shows in the school cafeteria cuisine. (Apparently, they don't use tomato paste; if it's red, it's pepper paste. Much of the food has a red tinge, including the kimchi.) At the apartment complex, you can usually walk around and find at least one place where someone has put peppers out to dry. It could be on a car dashboard, or on a reed mat under a clear plastic rain shelter, or some other arrangement. (Note: These are not bell peppers. They are hot red peppers. You can also buy them green, and those are plenty hot as well.) It's a good thing I like spicy food.

As far as food goes, I have a pretty good deal. In addition to housing and medical insurance (the school will pay for any doctor visits until I get the necessary paperwork complete), the school provides two meals per day while I'm at the school. Lunch is in the American Café, which serves western-style food and plays K-Love radio streamed from the Internet. Dinner is in the school cafeteria, which serves Korean food, of course, always including rice, kimchi, and soup. I think I'm starting to acquire a taste for kimchi, and I can almost always tell if I'll want a small portion of the dish or a large one.

Well, it's after 10:00, I took my laundry out of the machine a while ago, so I think I'd better get to bed. One more thing I want to mention, before my prayer requests, is about the plugs. Everything runs on about 220 V here, but my computer and phone charger can take that voltage, so I only needed an adapter. I bought one from REI, the store brand, that said it would work in most of Asia. Well, it does work in Korea, sort of. It fits in the plugs, and it usually connects OK. The round prongs, however, are a bit narrower than the plugs here, so the connection is flaky, and moving it slightly can make it loose. This has apparently caused some spark-scarring. Fortunately, the school has provided me with a computer with the right plug, and that's what I use most of the time. So, if you need an adapter to work in Korea, don't buy the REI generic. Check them out more closely. I'll be willing to look at e-mailed pictures, with a coin for scale, to see if they're the right size.

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for the visa situation. The current goal is to get a D-6 (religious worker/missionary) visa. The school used to sponsor those directly, but apparently there was some abuse of that visa class in Korea. In the subsequent crackdown, most of those that the school sponsored were denied renewal, and only a few, like a pastor and his wife, were accepted. However, the school is part of the General Baptist Assembly in Korea, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in the U.S., and they could sponsor my D-6 visa as a missionary to Korea. I think that would not be stretching the truth. Despite being paid fairly, I am in a ministry, working for a nonprofit that depends partly on donations, ministering to the kids, sharing my faith as well as my knowledge of mathematics. Please pray that I would be able to get a D-6 visa soon, hopefully before I have to renew my tourist entry permit.

I'm rather behind on my grading, and only staying a day or two ahead with lesson planning. (Lesson planning for math is not a big deal. With this teacher's edition, the lessons pretty much write themselves, and I have taught lessons with no preparation, but it's best to have a plan.) I have figured out how to streamline the correction process somewhat. Please pray that I would be able to catch up, post grades and return papers in a timely manner, and get some breathing room.

I gave my students a pep talk yesterday and today, and a couple of new handouts: a set of homework guidelines, and a survival guide entitled: "Help! My Math Teacher Doesn't Speak Korean!" I emphasized the importance of dedication, hard work, belief in yourself, and not giving up. I don't know how much of that got through. Please pray that the students would understand how dedicated I am to their success, and that they would respond with similar dedication to their own success.

Two nights ago, my mom forwarded me a link to another blog she reads. A Canadian knitter was writing about seeing her 20-year-old daughter off at the airport, to go to Australia for 4 months. She described (in rather earthy language) the difficulty of a mother dealing with that situation. It reminded me of how much my mother loves me, and how hard it must be for her to know how far away I am. I got a care package from her today, and the contents reminded me again of how much she loves me. Please pray for both of us, that God would give us peace, and help us deal with this separation in a healthy way. I know I can do it, because I'm an Enlightened Warrior, but a warrior's job is often difficult unless he's also a Wizard, which I'm not yet, at least not consistently. Please pray that it would be easier for both of us to accept this situation.

Well, I think I covered everything important that I wanted to cover. There's lots more I have to say, of course, but it's way past my bedtime. In closing, thank you for reading, and thank you for praying for me. I appreciate both, but the prayers especially. From somewhere in Korea, good night, and God bless you all!

Test Day and Church in Korea

Well, it's Monday morning, about 10 minutes before the morning assembly. I gave half my students a test on Friday, and the other half get it today. We'll see how it goes when I grade it; I may end up making several of the problems extra credit.

Church last night was pretty good. I went to the evening service here in the school chapel. All students are required to attend, which I decided was no different than parents requiring their kids to attend church. Nonetheless, I think there is some serious fath there.

Pastor Josh Kong talked about asking students about their faith. The key question is, "Why are you going to heaven?" He posed that question to the congregation, and I waited to make sure he wanted an answer from someone.

Then I said, very clearly, "Because Jesus died for my sins!" Several people applauded. I'm glad it's that real here. Most people just don't have the courage to answer like that.

Also, when they pray independently, they pray out loud, like the ancients did. It sounds like babble, but that's just because I don't understand Korean.

Well, it's about time to start helping the students line up for assembly. I'd better sign off now. Next post, hopefully some of my impressions of Korea, along with some prayer requests.

First Week in Korea

Well, it's been a week minus a few hours since I first touched down in Korea, and I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto. :-)

Where do I begin? The flight was excellent in every respect. Singapore Airlines has world-class service and amenities, there was hardly any turbulence, I had a window seat next to a vacant middle seat, and the retired Hindu woman in the aisle seat was very friendly. I had no problems with immigration, customs, or health screening. Baggage claim was uneventful & accomplished at warrior speed, and my promised ride, though not the person I expected, was waiting for me, right where I expected, and recognized me immediately.

My first disappointment came when I tried to change my traveler's checks for Korean won. The currency counter at the airport charges a commission for traveler's checks, and I didn't want to pay that. I forgot I had some dollars that would be hard to spend in Korea. So, I arrived at the apartment without any spendable money. I also arrived later than I wanted to, because my driver got a little lost, since he was unfamiliar with the route and his directions were not very clear. Also, I won't get a decent paycheck for over a month, and I don't have an up-front settlement allowance. But, things are much better than they could be.

For one thing, the previous occupants left shampoo and other toiletries, so I don't need to buy those yet. For another, the school provides two meals per day while I'm working, so I only need food for breakfast plus the weekends. My roommate shares what he has, and Josh C, the guy who drives the school shuttle and picked me up from the airport, took me to the store and paid for some food for me. Cereal is expensive here, so breakfast is mostly fruit, like bananas, apples, and nectarines. (I could really use some granola, though.)

For another thing, in asking around for some help getting a ride to a bank, I learned that one of the school secretaries was looking for dollars for some reason. I made contact, she got some cash from the ATM, and I changed all the dollars I had for won. The rate was fair, and now I have some money to buy groceries. Since I don't have to pay for transportation, and my roommate won't ask me to kick in my share of the utilities until I get paid, and the school provides up to 10 meals per week, I should be OK.

One of the downsides of being where I am, is that there's not much within easy walking distance. For another, hardly any of the Koreans here speak any English. On the upside, the air is clean, the crime rate (aside from public drunkenness) is virtually zero, and the people are pretty friendly.

I've been very busy. On Sunday night, Josh C told me that I would be expected to start teaching Monday morning. I felt unprepared, not to mention jet-lagged, but as a warrior I can do whatever it takes to do whatever I have to do. Teaching math when I'm jet-lagged and disoriented is nothing compared to the challenges I conquered at Warrior Camp.

Then, on Monday morning, I met Chris Lee, who seems to be Dr. Cho's right-hand man. (Dr. Cho is the principal of the school.) He told me that, because of my recent arrival and the government's strong recommendations about containing the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, I wouldn't be teaching for a week, although since I was healthy I was free to come to the school, work at my desk, eat meals, etc. So, I got my books and computer, and I wasn't in any hurry, because I had a week to prepare lessons for two different classes.

Then, on Monday evening after 10pm, the doorbell rang. It was Chris Lee, and he had come to tell me that Dr. Cho wanted me to start the next morning, September 1. (That was the date I had originally promised that I could start.) Again, it would be hard, and it might not be pretty, but as a warrior I can do whatever it takes, so I agreed. The kids had been in study hall instead of math class for over a week, and Dr. Cho didn't want to lose any more time. I can't blame him, although the timing of his decision was not the best.

So, I started my teaching career on Tuesday, 1 September 2009. (Yes, this is a red-letter day for me.) First we had to get the textbooks, and then I had to teach without having prepared anything. I've often thought that I could do that, and it turns out that I can. However, I don't recommend it as a habit. By Wednesday I had a plan, and on Thursday and Friday I was able to cover two lessons per block, which is necessary to get through the required material on time. (No, I haven't planned it out with a calendar yet. I'm just doing as much as I can.)

Between teaching, settling in to the school, planning my lessons, settling in to the apartment, and trying to study Korean, I haven't had time for much else. So many things here are different, there are challenges everywhere when trying to do the simplest tasks, which makes them take much longer than they should.

For one thing, the unified laundry machine is labeled in Korean. (Thank God there are English instructions available!) Trying to do a load, I was convinced it hadn't dried them properly, so I tried to run a dry cycle. Again, not convinced. Then my roommate comes home and tells me it uses steam to dry, so they won't be dry like home, I have to shake them out. I hung everything on hangars wherever I could find a place to put a hook on my side of the apartment.

Then, on Friday, I had my biggest challenge in Korea to date (outside of the classroom):

It started because there was no shuttle available on Friday afternoon, since Josh C. and his wife Meagan were coaching the volleyball teams at their away games. So, I caught a ride home with Dick & Sherry, before dinnertime, which meant I needed to prepare my own dinner for the first time since arriving here. Not having enough of my own food in the apartment for dinner, let alone the weekend, not feeling comfortable using that much of my roommate's food uninvited, and finally having some won of my own to spend, I decided to do some shopping.

There is a small convenience store here at the apartment complex, that sells some necessities and sundry items. Between that and the farmers' markets that take over the streets every 5 days, I could buy all the food I needed. However, Friday was not a market-day. There is also a shuttle bus that I learned about, chartered by the management of the apartment complex, which provides transportation between the complex and the downtown area at no charge.

Feeling adventurous, and not finding what I wanted in the convenience store, I decided to take the shuttle. The driver spoke more English than most Koreans here, which isn't saying much. I was able to communicate that I wanted to go shopping in town, and that I needed food, not a restaurant, but food to cook. (At least, I think he got that message.) Where he let me off, I didn't see what I wanted immediately, so I decided to walk up and down the street.

I went into one or two stores, I crossed the street twice, and then I finally found a little side-street with a few open-air produce stands. I had been looking for brown rice, but I didn't even know how to say "rice" in Korean, or spell it in hangul. What I ended up buying was a handful of bananas, a few brown potatoes, a few yellow onions, and 10 brown eggs. The eggs were in flats of 25 (on the metric system, of course), and I used hand motions to show that I wanted fewer. The woman at the produce stand put 10 eggs in a bag, without additional padding. (Needless to say, I was very careful with that bag on the way home!) I offered the woman two 10,000 won bills, she took one and gave me two 1,000 won bills and a 500 won coin. Seven and a half thousand won for a handful of bananas, a handful of onions, a handful of potatoes, and a metric dozen eggs. Not as cheap as Imwale's, perhaps, but not bad, considering I started with over 150,000 won to last until payday. And, I should be able to cash my traveler's checks before then.

(This shopping trip taught me a valuable lesson: Be flexible in my purchasing plans until I know where to find what I want. Instead of putting "brown rice, lentils, eggs, tofu, milk," I need to write: "carbs (complex), protein, lipid/oil, calcium" as the nutrients that I need to shop for, and get what I can find to meet those needs.)

I walked back down the street until I was near the place where the bus driver had dropped me off, and looked in vain for the bus stop he had mentioned. (If I saw a bus-stop sign, I didn't recognize it.) As Providence would have it, before long I saw the bus itself, with the logo of the apartment complex, and I waved and ran (carefully holding my bag!) to meet it. The bus stopped, the door opened, I boarded, saying, "Go-map seumnida," to the driver (which he acknowledged with "ne"), and carefully took my seat.

At the apartment, I put away my purchases. I found one of the eggs was broken, and 9 whole. It was better than I had feared, but not as good as I'd hoped. Next time I go shopping, I'll bring something like newspaper for padding. (There was a Korean newspaper by the door on Saturday. I can't read it, but that doesn't make it usless!) I sautéed a sliced onion and ate it with spaghetti sauce, which was good. I also made two eggs in a hole with some bread from the fridge, and cooking oil from the pantry. That was dinner on Friday.

Saturday I mostly worked on lesson plans. Didn't finish with all the plans for next week, but I am prepared for the next two days. Now that I'm familiar with the lesson planning software/templates, I should be able to get caught up by Monday evening. For lunch, I baked a potato in the microwave, and sautéed a chopped onion and pepper (from the fridge). Next time I'll seed the pepper first! Wow, was that spicy!

Saturday I also went shopping again, this time at the convenience store. I got some spaghetti and a small bag of what I thought was brown rice. Since there's plenty of spaghetti sauce in the apartment, I cooked some of that first (after translating the instructions with my computer), which was good for dinner.

Sunday, I spent a fair bit of time translating the writing on the "rice" package. (When you need to translate Korean cooking instructions, Google translate is worth its weight in gold. So is a computer that can type in the source language.) It turns out the "rice" is some kind of rice-barley mix. It cooks in 15 minutes, so it must be white rice. I'm not sure how much of a complete grain the barley is, but the package says (in Korean) that it's an excellent (quantified) source of dietary fiber. It has kind of a nutty flavor, and I bet it would be good with milk for breakfast.

I'd like to post some photos, but the job of teaching and settling in to Korea hasn't left me much time for photography. I'll try to take some shots of the farms and grave markers on the road between my apartment and the school. That's about the only time I have when there's nothing else I need to be doing. If any of them are good enough to post, that should give you a flavor of what my commute is like.

Prayer Requests:

First, praise God, and give glory to Him, for enabling me to learn a few words of Korean and some of the Hangul writing system before I left! Thanks to that, I know how to greet people and take their leave, thank them and acknowledge thanks, introduce myself and say where I come from, and ask people their names and where they come from. Also, I can slowly sound out the writing. While I can't really use the language to get things done, this limited vocabulary is still very helpful. It makes a great first impression, when I bow to someone I've just met, and say, "Mannaso, pangap-seumnida (Pleased to meet you)." It's also good for impressing my students. I'm pretty sure I'm the only new foreign teacher at the school this term who introduced himself in Korean, or asked a student his name in Korean when there was a problem communicating in English. This brings me to my next prayer request:

Please pray that my students would be able to understand me. Some of them don't speak or understand English very well, which is very understandable, considering how slow my progress is in learning Korean. I'm trying to make sure that everything important is also written down on the board, because students of a new language usually master reading more readily than oral comprehension. Please pray also that I would develop a habit of speaking slowly and clearly, to help my students understand me.

Please pray that the visa/currency conversion situation would get worked out. (Because the provincial ministry of education refuses to grant accreditation to my school, it is very difficult to get a school-sponsored work visa. Most of the non-Korean teachers used religious worker visas until the government caught on and refused most of the renewals, which created the vacancies that I am helping to fill. That's why the school is planning to move to a different province within the next two years. Green cards are even harder; I would have to marry a Korean woman to get one!) What concerns me is that I will eventually need to convert won to dollars, to pay some bills incurred in the U.S. Official currency exchangers will stamp my passport every time they do so. If I leave the country on a tourist visa, and the immigration officials see that I've been converting a lot of won to dollars, they'll wonder if I've been working illegally to earn that many won. While immigration officials recognize that the government doesn't grant enough E-2 visas to meet demand, and they don't go around to schools checking teachers' visas, they can hardly ignore evidence that's right in front of them. Please pray that God would work everything out in His time.

Finally, please pray for my relationships with my co-workers, especially my roommate. There's no cause for concern yet, and they're mostly a pretty cheerful, easygoing bunch, but I'm still working on finding my place socially. Language barriers are part of the problem, as is the limited time that we have to get to know each other. Also, I've only been here a week, and most of them have been here longer. I'm taking Tae Kwon Do, starting next week, which should help. (Other foreign teachers are also signed up, including the Korean-American twins, Rachael and Sarah. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better, so I can tell them apart!) The instructor's English skills are quite limited, which will make things interesting, so I'll need to pay close attention.

Thanks for reading. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you. And, until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the palm of his hand.